Rules of colonial vintage go digital to run Government of the day

article by Vinson Kurien 

An IT products company based here has managed to compress ‘system of office procedure’ written by late Richard Tottenham in pre-Independent India.

The Tottenham system of governance may be of 1940s-vintage, but it is faithfully followed by many Government offices, including in Kerala, to this day.

CHALLENGING TASK

There is ‘nothing to beat Tottenham’ in the manner in which it has sought to streamline functioning of Government Secretariat, the very seat of the Government.

The challenge of putting the Tottenham genie into computer files was worth taking, says Prasadu Vaghese, Chief Executive and Managing Director, Ospyn Technologies, based in Technopark here.

Digital Document Filing System appears to have achieved exactly this, Varughese told Business Line, citing feedback from satisfied customers.

Richard Tottenham was a British civil servant working then as a District Collector with North Arcot district (now in Tamil Nadu).

THREE MANUALS

He developed three manuals on the request of the then Government. These were secretariat office manual, board of revenue office manual and district office manual.

Tottenham system is based on the principles of bureaucracy. It divides the office into various sections.

The concept of office is in the form of a pyramid with management head at the top and cutting-edge level functionaries at the bottom.

The pyramid becomes large at the base. Different levels of functionaries work in a hierarchy.

Every office is divided in to various ‘sections’ depending on activities/functions of the office. These functions are allotted to the sections.

VARIOUS REGISTERS

The system prescribes various registers to monitor progress of work in the office. Registers will help not only to assess progress but also arrest delays and cut down on arrears.

Common office functions represent a self-fulfilling chain of collecting, clarifying and processing information; taking decisions and communicating them.

While giving due credit to Tottenham, Varughese said that the system was not without its blemishes.

The filing system involved paper-based filing systems, which apart from being space consuming and tedious, also posed serious cost and security concerns.

Records management, data sharing, distribution and information retrieval become more complex and difficult, thereby decreasing operational efficiency.

DIGITAL SYSTEM

Digital Document Filing System addresses these issues and provides tools to create, retrieve, distribute and organise documents Varghese said of his company’s product.

It enhances business performance and productivity, while increasing efficiency and reducing the cost and clutter of maintaining paper records, Varghese said.

A major cause of concern in a majority of government departments is the delay caused in the physical movement of files from desktop to desktop.

Once digital system is implemented, documents are passed on electronically. Hence delays and overheads associated with paper based document distribution are tremendously reduced.

Blame red tape on the British!

It is often said that the British was responsible for bringing red tape into Government business while introducing an elaborate system of handling records here.

Under the Tottenham system of office procedure, each paper and its disposal are manually recorded. Depending on its importance, a decision is made to determine how long it should be retained.

PAPERS RECORDED

Papers are of transitory value are kept for a year before being destroyed. Others are retained for three years, 10 years and the most important ones retained permanently or for 30 years.

A nomenclature of L, K, D, R, reflecting the period of extension is given to each file/paper.

But rules of procedure as delineated by Tottenham system find resonance even under e-governance garb, says Prasadu Varghese. He said this in reference to Tamil Nadu Government’s announcement that it wanted to do away with Tottenham system and instead embrace e-governance.

PRIVATE SECTOR

Even the private sector is looking at the Tottenham system favourably, though strictly in the digital version, Varghese said. Ospyn has had some enquiries already.

A section assistant in the Government Secretariat told Business Line on condition of anonymity that his department’s was happy with Digital Document Filing System from Ospyn.

It takes care of the attributes of accountability, surveillance, security and file retrieval. Significantly, it also helps avoid dependence on office peons for delivering papers physically.

Last but not least, it affords even a clerk the luxury of accessing office files from the comforts of his own home, provided he has internet connection.